


Watching

by SwoodMaxProductions



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Genre: Acts of Kindness, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Good Ghirahim, Hurt/Comfort, Past Abuse, Psychological Trauma, Spoilers, Time Travel, headcanons, help him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 08:08:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27730051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SwoodMaxProductions/pseuds/SwoodMaxProductions
Summary: Impa, watching the seal, also watches Ghirahim.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 36





	Watching

She had been prepared for the years at a time of isolation. She had been prepared for leaving Her Gr— no,  _ Zelda. _ But what Impa had not been prepared for, staying behind in her original time period, was  _ Ghirahim. _

As the timelines knitted together, she saw him. At first, he merely watched the Sealed Grounds, never truly approaching, but never far away. That stage didn’t last long. It was about two hundred years into her vigil when he first appeared, and within the year, he was at the bottom of the great spiral pit the Isle of the Goddess had left behind.

He didn’t leave.

He knelt, unmoving, rain or shine and through the changing of the seasons, at the sealing spike that would bind Demise until the final battles. Sometimes she could hear him weeping, begging the silent seal for his orders. He had no idea what to do with free will. He was afraid to use it. She soon didn’t have the heart to drive him off anymore.

In her younger days, she dreamed of watching Ghirahim suffer.

Now, she realized, she had her wish… and she deeply regretted it.

After about a decade or two, he fell silent. Gazing down from the temple, it seemed to Impa that his mind had simply withdrawn into itself. The next time she checked, there was a sword driven into the ground beside the spike.

At about 450 years, he was moving again. Patrolling, almost. She could sense him in the surrounding forest, moving in the same pattern every day. Slowly, the pattern began to change. It grew more erratic, more… curious. He was beginning to think for himself.

Travelers began reporting sightings of a bizarre entity, tall, pale, and fast as lightning. Impa realized that she was somehow feeling… proud. She told herself she shouldn’t. He was the enemy. 

But was he really? After all, he never had a choice…

He would always return to the spike. Impa didn’t know if she was growing soft in her old age, but her heart hurt for the poor spirit. A creature of unparalleled, undying loyalty, only for that very loyalty to be abused… But one detail was still missing. And suddenly, Impa knew what she had to do.

Weeks later, she climbed down the spiraling path, sensing a shift and seeing her chance. Ghirahim was… asleep. It shouldn’t have been surprising, but to actually see him _ sleeping, _ curled up beside the spike like a faithful dog, looking far too childlike… 

She cautiously approached him with what she had so painstakingly made: his cloak.

Impa gently laid it over the sword spirit’s sleeping form. She froze when he moved slightly— but he merely snuggled into the fabric in his sleep, seeking out any shred of comfort he could.

As she left, Impa wondered if he ever realized she had made the cloak for him. She wondered many things about Ghirahim.

And she hoped that one day, someone would be able to show him the compassion he so desperately needed.

**Author's Note:**

> That someone is Ganondorf.


End file.
